


Zuleika (or, Sith and Jedi: Civil War)

by WildcatPacer



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25106863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildcatPacer/pseuds/WildcatPacer
Summary: The SITH are ascendant. Decades after the Battle of Exogol, the RULE OF TWO has been abolished as DARTH ZULEIKA raises an army of Sith acolytes from the ashes of KORRIBAN. Meanwhile, Jedi Grandmaster REY SKYWALKER and her resurgent JEDI Order have stirred to challenge their archenemy in a bid for FORCE SUPREMACY in the galaxy...
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Temiri Blagg/Original Female Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. The Battle of Isacchar

**Chapter 1: The Battle of Isacchar**

The oculars gave off a reddish tinge within the viewfinding lenses as they observed the windswept plains of the peaceful Core World planet of Isacchar. Lowering the goggles, Jedi Grandmaster Rey Skywalker frowned hard, the thin line of her mouth almost stoic, even as her deep brown eyes widened in uneasy shock. The massive battleship had appeared out of hyperspace and entered planetary orbit in the wee hours of that morning, the whoosh of its arrival awakening all at the Jedi Praxeum and scaring Master Vaj Cornag out of his wits from where he had been stationed on the cliffs for nightly guard duty. Upon being alerted, Rey had (as Grandmaster) authorized immediate defensive measures and called on all her Jedi to brace for war. Adiara Xidgol, a hawkish Gamorrean Jedi Knight and one of Rey's trusted colleagues on the Jedi High Council, had advocated for a preemptive strike against the imposing warship, but Rey had declined. Taking the defensive position was tactically more appropriate, but all the same she had commanded Padawan learner Dono Kyle to lead the younglings into hiding until the worst of the fighting had passed.

And there would be fighting, Rey knew, as in raising the oculars to her face again, she could now observe a russett transport - a Trade Federation antique in design - drop out from the belly of the metallic beast and enter atmo. It was coming in hard and fast; Rey winced - the pilot either had to be hopped up on deathsticks or was the worst airman to ever get behind the controls of a starship. A crash landing in the meditation meadows just beyond the walls of the Academy seemed likely.

A calm wave dunked Rey's anxiety in the Force as two familiar presences appeared at her side.

"Your orders, Master?"

Rey smiled tenderly at her Master of the Order, Finn, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"As soon as it touches down, sound the advance."

"Let me go in the initial wave, Master!" The bronze-haired man at her other side all but pleaded.

Rey chuckled. He was 30-years-old, and yet Temiri Blagg still sounded like the little boy of only ten year cycles that she had found on the streets of Canto Bight.

"Temper your blood, Padawan," Finn cautioned. "Ferocity has its uses, but only in moderation. The Trials should have taught you that."

Temiri grinned sheepishly. "Yes, Master." Though he had achieved Knighthood long ago, the former stablehand maintained a sentimental relationship with his old Master.

All at once, a roar emanated through the Force, so aggressive that Rey wobbled back on her heels, the oculars tumbling from her hold and plopping to the dirt. She knew that presence... as viscerally and intimately as she knew her own Force signature... A physical reaction overtook the Jedi as parts of her body seemed to constrict.

At her left, Rey could feel Finn's concerned but knowing eyes on her, followed by the warmth, waxy feel of his fingers as her laced them through hers. The squeeze was punctuated and gentle, and she clasped his palm like a lifeline, gratefully squeezing back.

"I feel it too," her oldest and dearest friend murmured low in her ear. "Leave to you?"

Rey nodded numbly. Turning to Finn, she pecked his cheek. "Yes. Thank you. Be careful."

"I will," he rumbled.

"Incoming!" Temiri bellowed from where he had gathered up the oculars.

Returning her focus to the plains, Rey watched in horror as the transport crash landed into the meadow grass, the screech and crunch of durasteel propelling it forward until inertia abandoned the ship. It came to a stop right against the gates of the Jedi academy, the hull buckling but not fully compromising the integrity of the stone obelisks.

As the smoke of the wreckage cleared, Rey glanced back to behold wave after wave of her Jedi faithful behind her. The Force hummed in anticipation, spikes of bloodthirsty relish cropping up in the younger Knights who yearned to be battle-tested.

"Steady as she goes!" Rey called, holding a hand aloft for patience.

The prairie grasslands were so silent that the creak of the transport's gangplank giving way grated on the ears of all assembled. From the yawning black maw of the ship, Rey's blood chilled at the sight of red lightsabers piercing the gloom from within.

Taking a deep breath, Rey ignited the golden blades of her saberstaff, leveling them at the army of Sith now marching on the Praxeum.

"For the Force! For Balance! CHARGE!"

Letting out savage yells, the Jedi rushed the field in a sprint, Rey in the lead. Bending her knees, Rey catapulted herself into a somersault across the remaining distance towards Darth Xyrr. Twirling her saberstaff, she easily rendered the Mon Calimari's head from his shoulders. Landing in a crouch, Rey spun and locked blades with Darth Qakkuch, the Nikto Sith's eyes gleaming fiendishly. His second blood-red saber swiped for her head and she ducked, hacking off that sword arm.

Spinning around, Rey spotted Finn across the way, trapped in a fierce duel with the hulking Lasat, Darth Uegron. The purple alien wielded a double-bladed saberstaff like she did and when one of them nearly tore through Finn's shoulder, Rey felt her heart go into her mouth.

A rush of air suddenly blew into Rey's face and she staggered back a step, reverse-thrusting her saber into a Kubaz Sith almost absently. The figure that had dropped down into the fray before her, blocking Finn and Darth Uegron from view, had a hood covering its face. Upon the shawl being thrown back, Rey's eyes went huge and she felt the visceral pull again.

The human woman before her was striking in beauty, with a heart-shaped face, wavy and cascading dark hair. Her deep blue eyes were doleful, but now tinged with a sickly yellow. Mascara shadow and subtle touches of makeup completed and enhanced her unblemished, alabaster skin. All that tarnished her beauty was pearly white teeth curled into a sneer. She was deadly.

Rey snarled, gritting her teeth through the cry of anguish in her heart. "Darth Zuleika."

"Your weapon, please, Grandmaster Jedi," Zuleika drawled, almost strolling up to the older woman. "Let's not make a mess of things in front of your disciples."

"Your Sith are already doing that," Rey retorted sharply. "And if anyone knows how to make a worse mess between the two of us, it's you, _Chiara_. I cleaned up enough of them."

Zuleika's face contorted in annoyance. "Don't get all nostalgic on me, Skywalker! And don't you dare patronize me! I'm not a child anymore!"

Rey's gaze turned sad and wistful. "You will always be to me, my Force angel."

"To your detriment, _mother dearest_." And with a savage yell, Zuleika leapt towards Rey, her crimson saber crackling against ones of amber. Grunting, Rey pushed on the offensive, swinging into a barrage of advances so that her golden blades windmilled like a kayaker's stroke. Zuleika parried with almost muscle memory and when she pushed back, Rey had to Force leap away to avoid being capped at the knees.

Zuleika charged forward, bending her long legs to launch into a Force jump, when the ground suddenly peppered with blaster bolts, sending up dust flares and driving the Dark Sith Lady back. Teeth bared in a snarl, Zuleika fell into retreat.

"This isn't over, Skywalker..." Projecting her voice with the Force, she commanded her legions, "FALL BACK! SITH, TO ME!"

The sea of red blades fell off, withdrawing in waves for the transport, which somehow had retained use of its propulsive turbolift thrusters to take to the air. It screamed into atmo, with the flurry of X-wings that had sweeped into a timely Calvary charge from lightspeed.

"Yeah!" Finn whooped at one X-wing swooping overhead. "That's one hell of a pilot!"

With a tired smile, Rey's eyes nonetheless stung with tears as she bent over double, hands braced on her knees. "Jedi... to me!" she called with what was left of her voice. "High Council, report to our chambers!"

* * *

Back in the chambers of the Jedi High Council, Rey held court in the center chair of the ring of warriors. As Master of the Order and her trusted second-in-command, Finn was at her right.

"I managed to place a tracker on that transport as it fled. Read-outs have traced Darth Zuleika and her forces to the Korriban system."

An Ithorian Jedi by the name of Mirek Tuncin slammed a fist down on his armrest. "We must conduct a pre-emptive strike and burn Korriban back to ash!"

"If we commit to pursuit, Zuleika will just find another Sith temple," Master Fibe'an, a humanoid, pointed out. "The Sith are naturally nomads."

"Eeee kwooak ossipi!" the Jawa to his left chattered. On its other side, a green alien with pointy ears dipped her head in acknowledgement.

"Right, Master Kootoo is," Yammer declared. "Hard to track, the Dark Side can prove. Though in favor of a strike, I am, great care we must take."

All eyes turned to Rey, who was resting her chin in her hand. She nodded heavily. "There will be no strike until I exhaust all diplomatic channels. A Jedi must always engage from a position of defense, never in attack." The others on the Council nodded gravely.

Just then, Kaydel Kol Connix poked her head into the Council chambers. "Excuse me, Master Skywalker, your husband wanted me to inform you that he has just landed."

Rey nodded. "Thank you, Kaydel. I will meet him in the hangar bay."

"I'll go with you, Mistress Rey!" C-3PO, the golden protocol droid, dithered after her as she swept out of the chambers.

The hangar was a bustle of activity when the Jedi Grandmaster arrived. X-Wings were being tuned and oiled after the exhaustive day's run. Across the way, Rey spotted the curly black hair of her husband stomping across the durasteel landing pad towards her. Grime and soot covered his orange flight suit, but despite this, Rey had to grudgingly concede that he filled it out well.

"I fly off to the Coreillian Run for two standard weeks, and I come back to a saber flash mob?" Rey's spouse bellowed as he approached her. "Next time, warn me before I'm about to miss all the fun!" Coming to a halt before her, Poe Dameron glanced her up and down. "Hi."

"Hi," Rey huffed tiredly.

Pulling her close, Poe kissed Rey shortly but firmly on the lips. Rey's eyes widened, taken aback, but she held the kiss before she and her husband abruptly broke apart. Though the public display of affection caught her off-guard, it was a pleasant surprise.

"Are you all right?" Poe lightly rubbed her arms.

Rey smiled; it actually came off as more of a grimace. "I'm fine." Biting her lip, she finally got it out, "I saw her."

Poe froze, regarding her, though his eyes held heartbreak. "Poe, I saw my daughter."

Silence. In the interim, BB-8 came screeching up and Rey patted its head absently.

"Say the word, and I'll restart the pre-flight checks. I'll fly to whatever hole she's in and drag her back myself, if I have to."

"You're sweet," Rey tucked a stray lock of hair back out of his face. She even felt compelled to peck his cheek. "But I wouldn't advise it."

"Mistress Rey is right, Commander Dameron," Threepio piped up. "A reconnaissance mission to Korriban would be far too dangerous -"

"Did I ask for your opinion?!" Poe barked at the golden droid sharply.

"No," Threepio admitted, looking a little put out. "But if ever you did, sir, I'd suggest a little mouthwash?"

"Noted," Poe grunted, blinking.

Rey fought to hide a smile. Threepio and her husband had never gotten on the best. When she and Poe had gotten married, opting for a quiet and private ceremony with only Finn as a witness, Threepio had offered to marry them, but the dashing pilot had flatly refused. Connix had happily officiated instead, so that a more ostentatious and officious wedding ceremony was mercifully averted.

And here came Connix now, pelting into the hangar bay with her dirty blonde hair bouncing and her eyes wild.

"Master Skywalker!" Rey turned in her husband's arms at the sound of her name. It was a name she held dear, influencing her to decline taking Poe's name when they wed. "Master Cornag wanted me to inform you of the casualties. Half a dozen dead, and one high-profile Knight unaccounted for. Possibly taken as a POW."

"POW?" Rey frowned. "You mean...?"

Kaydel eyed her strickenly. "Temiri Blagg is missing."


	2. Open House

**Chapter 2: Open House**

Rey sat at her vanity, untangling the braids from her hair so that the chestnut locks cascaded down her back in waves. Picking up the hairbrush - a present from her friend Rose Tico - she began to brush the strands, all while surreptitiously tracking her husband through the reflection in the mirror as he too prepared for bed.

Poe Dameron was a Senator for the Final Republic, but also kept his beloved piloting on the side. Between these duties, he could often be counted on to be gone for weeks at a time, occasionally longer. The two-week Coreillian Run trip had been part of an airlift to some of the more working class Core Worlds. Some months back, a supernova and its aftershocks had ravished a handful of systems, leaving millions homeless... and yet the Senate was deadlocked on an aid package. In the scattered conversations she had had with her husband, Rey knew the holdup bothered Poe greatly.

The personal life of Poe Dameron had always been rife with speculation, and fascination, on the part of the galactic media. Thus, Poe had built up the imperative skill of keeping as much of his personal life as private as he could. When he had first asked her out, not quite a year after Exogol, Rey had hesitated. Her grief regarding Ben had been still quite fresh - indeed, it had never completely gone away - but she had decided to give him a chance, if for no other reason than to attempt to patch up her emotional fragility as much as the handsome pilot's.

For their first date, Poe had insisted on being very discreet, and they went to a modest restaurant on his homeworld of Yavin IV. Even throughout the dinner, Rey had been nervous and wary of what might come of the evening. How could you move on with anyone if the true love of your life - your other half - had been lost to you? Across the candlelit table, Rey knew that even if she went on a hundred dates - with Poe or anyone else - she would always compare the person across from her to Ben Solo. As such, it wasn't an easy hurdle to overcome, but Poe Dameron knew how to overcome a challenge. He had charmed her, been respectful and courteous of her, and one date soon led to a second. Then a third.

She and the pilot still bickered, of course, but an arousing tinge had taken hold within their spats. At least, that was what Rey had liked to believe. Or maybe it was the chemical imbalances that were at that time overtaking her body in earnest. When Poe had proposed marriage to her, in the very clearing on Ajan Kloss where they had embraced in relief at war's end, Rey had burst into tears. The emotions behind those tears had been a complicated mix that she had been unable to distill, though in that moment, she knew that those tears had been partly brought on by the notion that it should have been Ben on one knee before her in place of Poe.

Not wanting the media to catch a whiff of their engagement, the wedding ceremony was whirlwind, with Finn there as Best Man, Father of the Bride, and sole witness all rolled into one. Upon saying "I Do," Rey had decided to keep her chosen maiden name of Skywalker; endearingly, Poe had respected her decision.

The newlywed Damerons honeymooned on Yavin IV, and by the time they returned home, the marriage of the heroic pilot and Last Jedi had left the holonews in a tizzy. Poe and Rey paid it little mind, as he prepared to run for the position of First Senator, while Rey began training Finn as her first apprentice, thus laying the cornerstone for what would become her Jedi Praxeum.

Oh, and in the mix of that, she gave birth to her and Ben's daughter.

In the first two or three months after Exogol, she had discovered the changes in her body. Felt her breasts fill with a mother's milk. In her heart, the Force told Rey that it had been the one to place Ben's baby inside of her, and the memory of his hand on her belly as he brought her back to life on Exogol had been the only explanation for the conception. Poe had been gamely accepting of Rey's condition when they had first started dating, and though the identity of the father had been a shock, her future husband had swallowed this as well. As Chiara grew, Poe's increasing duties had kept him away from home, but when he was home, he had been a loving stepfather.

Rising from her vanity, Rey crossed to the double-bed and sat on the side of the mattress, turning her head over her shoulder to watch as Poe tugged off his boots.

"Did you deliver the payload all right?" she managed, guilty at how stilted her voice was.

"Yup," he flashed her a dazzling smile, though the warmth of it didn't reach his eyes. Climbing on the mattress, he crawled over to her. "Good to sleep in my own bed, at least for a night or two. I missed you."

Rey smiled weakly. "I missed you too."

Casting her glance down to where her hands were folded into her lap, Rey felt goosebumps bubble onto her flesh as she sensed Poe's lips ghosting kisses down her neck. Warm arms encircled her so that wide hands could cup the underside of her breasts.

Rey squirmed away as gently as she could. "Not tonight, darling," she murmured, hoping she sounded regretful enough as she reached to turn out the light. "I have the Masters' Open House for the Initiates in the morning."

The darkness wasn't quick enough in enveloping the room for her to not catch a stung Poe turning away, rolling over to face away from her.

* * *

Rey congregated with Finn and several of the other Masters on the bleachers in the gymnasium, observing the preteen and teenage Jedi Initiates engaging in duels with training lightsabers on mats set up across the floor.

Two Initiates were assigned to each mat, with rotations every five or ten parminutes. Though the youngsters tried to carry on as though this was a regular sparring practice, Rey could sense their heightened excitement in the air.

Every few months, the Praxeum held an Open House for the Masters in the Jedi Order so they could observe the Initiates and so that Masters without an apprentice could choose one.

"Who's the Dug on that mat, second row, five from the left?" Master Jodra Nexkin, a Devaronian, grunted.

"Donald Sebulba," Rey observed the Dug kicking out with its powerful rear legs to trip the Rodian boy he was dueling. The Rodian tumbled to his knees but quickly kick-flipped back up to parry the overhead strike bearing down on him. "He's one of the stronger and... more aggressive recruits from this cycle."

Zenva'kuun, a Klatooinian Jedi, contemplatively stroked the brown beard and goatee hanging from his pronounced chin. "He relies much on Vaapad. Form V. I sense his affinity for the darkness."

"So do I," Rey nodded. "Tapping into the darkness is necessary for balance, but it must be done in moderation."

"Donald Sebulba is undisciplined. Arrogant," Finn appraised. "He would do well to rely on the light in equal measure that he is the dark."

"Maybe you should be the one to tame him, Master Finn," Zenva'kuun mused. "After all, it has been two cycles since your first apprentice reached Knighthood."

"Oh no, not me!" Finn chuckled. "Temiri Blagg was a handful enough! One apprentice is all I can stand."

Rey smirked in bemusement, affectionately planting a kiss on the cheek of her dear friend and first (actually, only) apprentice. "Finny," she chided. "You should consider taking on a second Padawan learner. Temiri may have been wild in his youth, but you turned him into a fine young man. You're an excellent teacher."

Finn flushed at the very high praise, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Rey had kissed him. There was something unreadable in his expression. Turning back to where Donald Sebulba had his training saber at the Rodian boy's throat, making him yield, the dark-skinned Jedi Master stroked at his chin, eyes narrowed. Side-eyeing Rey from where she was observing him closely, he finally relented with a noncommittal, "I'll think about it."

Beaming, Rey pecked him on the cheek again.

* * *

After the Open House, Rey returned to her and Poe's apartment to pack a few things in a rucksack. Slinging it over her shoulder, she headed for the Millennium Falcon parked in the hangar bay. Her thoughts had drifted back to Temiri again. If he truly had been captured by the Sith - which the Force seemed to be telling her was the case - then she and her Jedi would have to stage a rescue mission and soon. Exactly how to go about that, she was uncertain. And whenever Rey was uncertain about a problem before her, her first course of action was to commune with the Force and meditate. Tatooine had always been a quiet place to think, ever since burying the Skywalker sabers there.

Coming into the hangar, Rey spotted her husband, under his X-Wing, BB8 already in the astromech seat. Her face fell. He was leaving again... Well, so was she, so perhaps the loneliness would be easier.

Drifting close, she commented, "So soon?"

Turning back, Poe stood and pushed some hair out of his face. "Yeah. Spice run call. Out by the Western Reaches."

Rey nodded absently as Poe turned back to begin scaling the ladder. "Have... have a good trip," she stammered, smiling weakly.

"Thanks, honey," Poe rumbled. "I'll holocall you when I get in."

"Poe?"

"Hmm?"

"... I love you."

He glanced at her, a bemused smile on his face, and Rey wanted to cringe. Force, when was the last time she had said those words to him? She couldn't remember. "I love you too," Poe almost chuckled. Gripping her chin, he pulled her into a soft, long kiss. Closing her eyes, Rey willed herself to kiss him back. Too soon, they broke apart and Poe swung himself into the cockpit. Standing back, Rey waved as she watched her husband disappear once again into the atmosphere.


	3. Little Girl, Be a Woman

**Chapter 3: Little Girl, Be a Woman**

Darth Zuleika prowled up and down the pristine, obsidian hallways of her personal Star Destroyer, scowling at each and every little Stormtrooper or officer who looked at her wrong.

The Battle on Isacchar could have gone better - a lot better. At least a quarter of her 200 loyal Sith followers had been admitted to the medbay with significant injuries. Roughly another third lay dead. Only one Jedi had been taken alive... and it had not been the one Zuleika preferred. As far as Zuelika was concerned, that battle constituted an entire wash, at least by her standards. Neither Kylo Ren nor Darth Vader - kriff, not even Darth Sidious himself - would ever stand for such incompetence...

Come to think of it, Skywalker - _Mother_ wouldn't either...

Zuleika paused along one stretch of hallway when the artificial light caught her reflection in the polished durasteel of the walls. Her heart-shaped face was sunken, her doleful blue eyes dimmed. Huffing, she moved on, in search of the detention cell block.

It hadn't always been this way. She had been born Chiara Leia Solo, the daughter to the great Jedi Grandmaster Rey Skywalker. Her father had been Ben Solo, a handsome war hero who had tragically given his life during the Battle of Exogol. At least, that was the story that Mother had always told. The primary parental figure in her life had therefore not been her real father, but rather her stepfather. Poe Dameron was still the most arrogant pilot across three star systems, but he had doted on her, and treated Rey well - he and Mother had married when she was still pregnant with her. Theirs had been a household of happiness and laughter, increased all the more so by her treasured Uncle Finn, her mummy's best friend. Between him and Uncle Poe (Chiara had always called her stepfather that), there had been little to be sad about...

* * *

_The sunlight kissed the waters along the beaches of Isacchar. Clad in a bathing bikini that accentuated her slim figure, a beaming Rey glowed as she bounced her little toddler in the low tide, the waves rushing up to flood her lap and splash the loud, exuberant girl squirming in her arms. 3-year-old Chiara's blue eyes scanned the even bluer waters, trying to detect an abnormality in its coloring. Although she had no name for it at the time, the Force swelled within her tiny body, aiding in her search..._

_There! Slithering closer to the sandy shore, its maneuverings becoming less graceful as depth decreased. The sunlight reached down beneath the blue and white foam, making its dark skin sparkle. Chiara pointed, babbling._

_"Unca Finny a wata monta! I pour wa-wa on him!"_

_Rising up out of the waves, Finn was grinning from ear-to-ear even as he made his best show of sporting a scary, monster face. Trilling out a laugh, Rey helped Chiara fill their little bucket, before mother helped daughter upend all its contents on her godfather's head._

_"Oh! You got me!" Finn bemoaned, falling back onto his rear in the low tide with a splash._

_A chuckle could be heard behind the group as Poe sauntered over, a towel draped across his shoulders. Bending down, he kissed a smiling Rey on the mouth before turning to lovingly pat Chiara on the head._

_"Good girl, Chiara..." he chuckled. "Good girl..."_

* * *

That memory felt like a lifetime ago, Chiara thought sadly, as she rounded the final corner on approach to the detention cell block. In the next moment, she inwardly cursed herself for showing such weakness. She was Darth Zuleika, Dark Lady of the Sith! The one who had broken the chains of Darth Bane's stifling Rule of Two that had dictated Sith doctrine for centuries, and held them back from true greatness! Now they could challenge the Jedi, who had adapted in their policy of embracing some elements of the Dark in the name of Balance, she had to concede, but were still weak. The galaxy did not need a police state - not the Jedi, not the Republic, not even the Empire of her great-grandfathers. No, true power came from the allowance to make choices without restraint. Some might call that anarchy. Chiara called it freedom.

Arriving at the detention cell block, Zuleika saluted her colleague Darth Ortor, the hulking Weequay who had been one of her first converts. Waving her hand, the Force allowed her to access the keypad and open the door with a hydraulic whoosh, revealing a prisoner in the dimly lit room, surrounded by red Sith troopers and lashed and held up by thick coils.

Dried blood had congealed on his face. His bronze hair was dirty and matted. But Force above and Sith alive, was he still _handsome_. Chiara had known Jedi Knight Temiri Blagg for as long as she could remember. As a little girl, she had watched him train under her godfather, Uncle Finn. A decade her senior and now a strapping man of 30, he had grown up... and filled out... quite nicely.

Temiri's head bobbed up weakly to squint at her. Zuleika just smiled ferally.

"I had no idea we had captured the best Knight in the Jedi Order." That was, of course, a lie, but Zuleika felt the need to gloat.

Temiri just gave her his best attempt at a smirk; it actually came off as a strained grimace. "Why, little Chiara Solo, are you flirting with me?"

Chiara thought she heard the Sith troopers try and hide guffaws. She flinched in their direction, eyes blazing and they straightened. Temiri noticed.

"Hey mates, did you know this is Skywalker's daughter? I remember when I could fit the great Dark Lady of the Sith into the palm of my hand. Even helped change her diapers a time or two!"

One of the Sith troopers openly hooted under his visor. He was promptly rewarded with several volts of Sith lightning. The CRACKLE was followed by a pronounced SMACK as Zuleika struck Temiri across the face.

"ENOUGH!" she screeched, cheeks burning pink. Bringing her face quite close and trying to ignore how his proximity made her heart race, she seethed, "You will pay for such insolence, Blagg." And she swept from the detention cell block.

* * *

Chiara wasn't quite sure what made her do it. Try as she might channel the dark side, to keep her anger at Temiri's teasing fresh, she couldn't do it. Besides, he hadn't said anything that wasn't true. Maybe that was why it had stung so much. The fact that she herself had been thinking of... happier times just before visiting him hadn't helped.

It was late at night when she returned to the detention cell block, dismissing the Sith troopers stationed there. "Leave us," she commanded.

Waking and releasing Temiri from his coils with the help of the Force, she hauled him to his feet. When he eyed her questioningly, she flushed. Not for the first time, Chiara wished she had the use of a mask, like many of the Sith greats. Dark Malik. Her paternal great-grandfather, Darth Vader. If only they matched her fashion sensibilities.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" She cursed how her voice sounded so small. Far too gentle. Peering at her in bemusement, Temiri nodded.

Jedi Knight and Dark Lady of the Sith patrolled the corridors of the Star Destroyer. Except for key operational posts, the whole of the battleship was quiet and sleeping. After a prolonged and awkward silence, Chiara looked askance at him.

"How's your cheek?"

Temiri rubbed at it, smiling. "Your bark is worse than your bite, young one."

She should have felt insulted. Instead, Chiara just felt exposed. She pondered her reflection in the polished, obsidian floors at her feet. She could feel Temiri's impossibly blue eyes on her before she heard him chuckle.

"Aw, hell, there isn't a memory from the time I was 10, 11 years old that doesn't have you in it!"

Chiara chuckled, in spite of herself. "Yeah. Do you remember the beaches? Sky... _Mother_ used to take me there all the time, to play in the sand. Ironic, as my great-grandfather hated sand. Still... I loved the water."

The pair came to a viewport, pausing to admire the stars and blinking lights of distant systems on the horizon. "Mother and I used to play in the low tide, and Uncle Finn would try to drag us into deeper water to get us all wet."

"The sunlight sparkling off the waves..." Temiri murmured distantly.

Chiara turned to him. "Precisely." She faltered when she noticed that he was looking at her, and rather intensely. And when Temiri leaned in, she didn't back up, holding his gaze evenly but warily as her eyes drifted shut. A tiny gasp emitted from her before she felt his soft lips seal over hers in a gentle kiss.

At first, Chiara didn't resist, but then she pulled away abruptly. Gentlemanly, Temiri let her go.

"No!" she cried, almost breathless, turning away. "I shouldn't have done that." Yet the conviction that should have been in her voice wasn't there.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Temiri rumbled, stammering.

They continued to gaze out at open space, peering everywhere but at each other.


	4. Unfaithful

**Chapter 4: Unfaithful**

The morning twin suns beat down oppressively on Rey's back, the heat sweltering. Eyelashes fluttering, she resisted the urge to open her eyes and blink away the beads of sweat quickly pooling down from her forehead as she meditated.

 _Be with me..._ she thought. _Be with me... Be with me..._

Ugggh, this would be a lot easier if she didn't have such a distraction. She recalled a passage in the Jedi texts that talked about adversity from the elements. The wind and snow and rain. _Accept it_ , the texts had said. _Make it a part of you... and then let it go._

She had been a girl of scarcely 20 then, a young widow with the ancient tome open on her lap, perched on her swollen belly as she had caressed the growing life within.

A chuckle nearly in her ear made her twitch, flinch sharply. "For a desert girl, you sure are bothered by the humidity."

For one parsec, Rey thought it was the voice of her Jedi Master. Luke Skywalker, come to impart some more wisdom to her. His Force Ghost had visited her from time to time over the many years. He had been there the night Chiara was born. The day she and Poe got married.

But no... this voice was deeper than Luke's. A voice she thought she might never hear again, but that now made her body tremble in uncontrollable delight. Heart swelling, her eyes snapped open, and she spun around, mouth agape.

For there he was. Blue and translucent, perhaps, but nevertheless looking as young and beautiful as the day he had come for her. The happiest and worst day of her life, on Exogol where they had triumphed. When they had finally kissed and confessed their feelings for each other. The day she had fallen pregnant with his child.

Ben Solo's smile was still as beaming as the one he had gifted her with just before he passed away in her arms. Seeing it once more, Rey could not help but grace him with a beaming smile of her own, and he basked in it like one of the twin suns rotating above their heads.

"Ben..." His name was but a whisper on her tongue, but filled with such warmth, Rey was sure she would overheat.

Radiant, Ben ran into her arms. And although it had been 20 years, without any thought, Ben and Rey leaned in as one and shared a long, passionate kiss.

Lips parting as her mouth fell open against his with a happy sigh, it was only when Ben's tongue was swimming in the roof of her mouth that Rey remembered herself. Deeply reluctantly, she wrenched herself out of the kiss, panting. Her breasts heaved, and though her hazel eyes had darkened with lust, there was a tinge of sadness in them.

"Mmmm... Wait... Hmmm... Wait, Ben," she mumbled around his lips still diving in to pepper hers. "We... we can't do this. I'm... I'm married. I'm with Poe. I love Poe."

She was rambling, she knew it, and if she didn't believe half the stuff that was coming out of her mouth, the man whom she considered to be her first husband - the man who was the father of her child - looked like he didn't believe her either.

"Dameron isn't here, is he?" he smirked, capturing her lips with his again, and Rey giggled into them, swatting his chest.

"Charmer."

Ben was kissing her cheeks, her face, lips diving to suckle on her collarbone, and she keened into him with a potent gasp. "N... No," she tried to pant. "This isn't right... I... Oooh..." Eyelids growing heavy, Rey tilted her neck to grant him better access, squirming happily when she felt his strong and calloused palms cup and squeeze the flesh of her rear.

"The will of the Force isn't right? A Dyad in the Force isn't right?" Ben murmured against her skin, now seeming to catch fire.

Kriff it all to hell.

"Mmmm... Hmmmm..." Mashing her lips to his, Rey furiously returned the kiss of the first man she had ever loved. Raising her leg sultrily to his toned torso, she practically leapt into his arms, wriggling her hips against the evidence of his desire for her. Spinning them around, sweeping her off her feet into a bridal cradle, Ben carried Rey grandly into the old Lars homestead...

* * *

"Uhhh... Huhhh... Urrrr... Mmmmhmmmmm... Ben..."

The twin suns were now setting, their fiery glow bathing the naked, sweaty, slapping bodies of Rey and Ben in bed, where they had spent hours upon hours making love. Sucking her peppled nipples in between his teeth, Ben nursed on them as he drove his thrusts deep inside Rey's soaking wet heat, penetrating low and deep. The moans torn from Rey's lips were long and alto and she wriggled ever closer to him. She felt the fire of Ben's lips blaze a trail down to her belly, and then lower, lower still...

When she felt his mouth graze on her nub, on the petals of her sex as he buried his face in between her spread legs, Rey keened, bucked into him, her eyes rolling into the back of her head with a breathy moan.

"Uhhhhh... Hmmmmm... Yes... Ben, sweetheart, I'm... I'm so close..."

Her petite hands fisted the blankets until her knuckles turned white. Her toes curled.

Rey came with a vicious squeal all around him...


	5. Falling Apart

**Chapter 5: Falling Apart**

The twin suns were just rising into the Tatooine sky when a satiated Rey and translucent Ben exited the Lars homestead. Taking her hands in his and holding their enjoined fingers between them, Ben beamed down at his love.

"I will see you soon, my dearest." He kissed her sweetly. "And when you next see our daughter... tell her I love her."

Blinking back tears, Rey nodded, kissed Ben and threw her white hood over her head as she made for the _Falcon_. The only thought she gave to the fact that she had cheated on her second husband with the ghost of her first was that at least Poe would probably still not be home when she arrived back on Issachar.

However, Rey soon found out how wrong she was when, upon taxing into the hangar bay, she found Poe's ship parked among the X-Wings. And as the steam dissipated from the hydraulic gangplank of Han Solo's ship, Rey strode down the ramp to find Kaydel Kol Connix hurrying to her, a concerned frown on her face and a strangely sympathetic look in her eyes.

"Rey... I know you must be tired and want to sleep in your own bed but Finn asked me to run interference."

"Kaydel? What's going on?"

The Lieutenant started wringing her hands, which only spiked Rey's concern more. "I don't know the easiest way to tell you this, but... Poe has been cheating on you."

Rey had to actually will herself to have her jaw drop. It wasn't that she wasn't surprised to learn of her husband's infidelity - quite the opposite, in fact - but it was that the news made her feel a little less guilty about her own transgression. She immediately hated herself.

Kaydel took her silence to mean anger and grief, for she went on, "Finn came across his X-Wing on a supply run to Kijimi. Poe was rolling around in the snow with some bounty hunter."

Rey nodded numbly. "Kaydel... I have to go..."

"Rey, I don't think..." But the Jedi was already moving to her and Poe's apartment.

The sight she discovered upon entering their rooms was almost worse than if she herself had come upon her husband in the throes of passion with another woman.

Her husband and her best friend were nose-to-nose, the latter yelling himself hoarse. Anticipating a physical fight, Rey quickly moved to pull them apart.

"Finny, please don't... Finn - can... can I please have a moment alone with Poe?"

Finn studied her hard. He must have recognized her knowledge of the situation in her gaze, for he then bestowed a parting glare of stone on Poe and marched from the quarters.

For a long beat, Rey and Poe gazed at each other awkwardly. Finally, with a heavy sigh, Rey turned away and crossed to their bed, sitting on the edge. Patting the space next to her, she felt Poe reluctantly join her. At long last, she willed herself to glance at him.

"It was Zorii, wasn't it?"

To his credit, Poe didn't bother trying to lie to her, nodding even as he cringed. "It's eerie when you use the Force like that."

"That wasn't the Force, Poe," Rey murmured sadly. "That was intuition."

Her husband glanced down into his lap, shame-faced.

Rey took a deep breath. "It may come as a shock to you, but... I've been unfaithful too."

Poe's eyes snapped up to hers, shocked, but Rey didn't bother to elaborate further. Would he even believe her if she did?

"Was it Finn?"

"What?" Rey gasped, blinking. "No!"

"It's just that... you should have seen him earlier, Rey. About ready to wring my neck. He was really upset."

Rey pursed her lips tightly. "I'm not surprised. He's always been very protective of me." Blinking back tears, Rey thought back to that night on Kijimi, to the beautiful bounty hunter who had helped them. And she also thought back over her and Poe's nearly twenty years of marriage... and how, for much of that time, especially after Chiara had left, she and her husband had grown apart until the man she was married to was nearly a stranger.

"As for Zorii... I know you love her. So..." And with that, Rey slipped off her wedding ring and dropped it into Poe's palm. "I set you free."

Poe stared at her, gobsmacked, as his wife's tears began to fall. "Poe, I'm sorry... you're the guy I _want_ to want!"

Poe nodded glumly. "I know. But... _he's_ always had your heart. Ben." He eyed her intensely. She didn't look at him, not wanting to confirm his suspicions. Only when Poe deposited his own wedding ring on her thigh did Rey even flinch.

As the pilot rose from the bed, Rey suddenly grabbed his face and mashed her lips to his, her tears slipping onto Poe's face. When she finally broke away from the goodbye kiss, Rey whispered, "Take care of yourself."

Pecking her lips once, Poe trudged from the apartment. Rey exited about ten minutes later, making sure to give the hangar bay a wide berth as she headed for the meditation meadows. Sitting cross-legged in the tall grass, Rey closed her eyes and tried to take herself far away from her divorce. The dissolution of her second marriage - finalized by the roar of hyperdrive engines and the Force sensing her ex-husband's departure from the planet...

* * *

_The sun was just setting over the grassy plains of Issachar. Rey, in her simple white Jedi robes stood before the holy Minister. Hands cradling her swollen belly, she reached out a trembling hand to lace Poe's fingers through her own. Smiling weakly but happily as the Minister proclaimed them man and wife, bonded by the Force, and under Finn's approving gaze, Rey let her hazel eyes meet Poe's smoldering ones as he lifted back the white Jedi hood that was her veil. Dipping in, Poe Dameron leaned in and kissed his bride. Eyes drooping shut, Rey swooned and leapt into Poe's embrace, throwing her arms around his neck as she eagerly returned his wedding kiss, her baby bump nestled between their entwined bodies..._

* * *

_It was several months later, and Rey lay flat on her back in a hospital bed, cradling a little pink bundle in her arms. Tears swimming happily, she beamed as she kissed her husband and allowed him to tickle her baby. Accepted him as he willingly volunteered to help raise and love a child that wasn't his..._

* * *

The tears began to stream down the Jedi Grandmaster's face anew...


	6. Then Kiss Me

**Chapter 6: Then Kiss Me**

Rey had just managed to reach a place of peaceful meditation when she felt a surge in the Force add to the ebbing torment still loitering around her heart. Eyes snapping open, her gaze fell upon Order Archivist and Librarian Beaumont Kin, red-faced and panting.

Her face fell. "What is it, Beaumont?" she asked with a sigh.

"Just come on!" Beaumont beckoned her, looking panicked. Frowning, Rey followed him off of the cliffs and down to the ring of stone huts that constituted the armory. Blasters, bowcasters and spare parts for lightsabers were kept here - and now, the whole place was in some kind of commotion, with Jedi hustling about.

"Master Skywalker, it just happened! The Sith just showed up! They shanked Jai Cotton, Master Yammer - maybe six, seven others, I don't know!" Beaumont rambled. "Thankfully, Kerfuffel here managed to scare them off."

"RAWRR!" The giant Wookie Jedi triumphantly waved his orange lightsaber above his head, though his roar was anguished.

Rey's face went white as Kaydel Kol Connix, one of their allied pilots, came running up to her. "Anyone see if she was among...?"

"No," Kaydel shook her head tightly. Rey's heart loosened slightly, eyes still fixed on Kaydel as she worried her bottom lip. "Rey... they stabbed Master Finn. He's hurt real bad."

Rey's stomach dropped like lead. "Finny?" She began earnestly pushing people out of the way until she saw her beloved friend, languishing on the ground. Throwing herself at his side, she was stricken to see that he was unconscious. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead, indicating a fever.

"He came across Darth Uegron hunting for you and confronted him. At least, that was what he said before he passed out. The Bacta tank is on its way from the med wing."

Rey stifled a little _moan_ behind her hand. Tears streamed down her face. "You idiot!" she hissed fiercely, partly at Finn. "Why would you do a thing like that?"

That was when Beaumont - a man known to be measured and taciturn - lost patience. "Oh, for Maker's sake, Rey! Haven't you figured out already that Finn is in love with you?!"

Rey's heart froze, the white in her face shifting from ghastly to nearly translucent. "Wh-what?" she stammered in a whisper.

"Bacta tank coming about!" Dono Kyle hollered, the Zabrak's features etched with concern as he made final approach. "Lift him up, move him out!"

Several Jedi managed to haul Finn into a casket's hoist, dump him into the Bacta tank after outfitting the breathing apparatus over his nose and mouth and wheel him away. Rey watched them go, head and heart in a tempest.

* * *

It was a few weeks later that found Finn back in his rooms in the Temple, recuperating. He was taking it slower, passing the time studying his calligraphy and transcribing the Balanced Code in various galactic languages. His faithful pet droid, D-O, was by his side... at least until this moment, when it suddenly started babbling about greasepans and bolted out the open doorway.

"Hey!" Finn laughed, wincing at how the sound elicited a jolt of pain along his sore abdomen. Still, he rose and followed his companion out into the hallway, where it had found a bowl of oil surreptitiously left there. "D-O! Come back here..."

Glancing up, Finn's voice trailed off when he saw Rey leaning against the wall with a sentimental smile. "Grandmaster Jedi," he faltered, bowing to her around the chest brace fitted under his tunic. Drifting closer to him, Rey intimately cupped his face. Her eyes sparkled.

"No," she murmured. "Not Grandmaster Jedi. Not Master Skywalker. Just Rey." Holding out her hand, she beckoned him invitingly. "Let's go for a walk?"

Gulping through his dry throat, Finn nodded, slipping his fingers into hers...

* * *

They walked along the beached shorelines at the far side of the Praxeum grounds, where they could be alone and watch the sunset while talking about everything and nothing. At one point, Finn squeezed her hand and Rey turned to look at him, expectantly. Dark eyes intense, Finn dove in for a kiss...

...and with heart pounding, Rey coyly twisted away, giggling, so that Finn got her neck instead. When his tongue tentatively started to lavish the pulse point there, she quivered.

"Ooooh..." Terribly turned on, Rey tilted her neck to grant him better access, her legs turning to jelly. Finn must have sensed this, for he quickly took Rey by her waist and held her close. His hands - calloused and meaty, massive and strong - dared to cup the shapely flesh of her rear. Gazing up at him, Rey didn't move. She decided that she rather liked Finn's hands on her. All the while, he continued to kiss her neck.

"Wh...What are you doing?" Rey was panting.

Finn drew back, eyes smoldering. "I'm just a guy trying to confess his feelings to the woman he loves - that he's _always_ loved."

Rey flushed pink. "Why... why didn't you say anything?"

He just looked at her, and Rey pursed her lips. "Poe. Right."

"And Ben was always there. Even after... I know you were always thinking about him."

Peering at him, Rey smiled weakly. "I'm not thinking about him now."

Chuckling, Finn squeezed her buttocks and yanked her flush against him. "I really want to kiss you, Rey."

She cocked her head and studied him, her grin broad as she beamed at him bemusedly, happily. "Then kiss me," she crooned. When Finn hesitated, Rey laughed. "Kiss me, Finny. That's an order... Mmmm..."

She should have known better. An ex-Stormtrooper's conditioning to obey never completely went away. With a sigh, Rey's mouth fell open against his as Finn's tongue eased through, and her eyes drifted shut in contentment. At last, with a POP!, they broke apart.

The two Jedi stared at each other for a moment before collapsing into peals of laughter. Smiling radiantly, Rey took pity on Finn as, looping her arms lazily about his shoulders, she brought her face close and softly pressed her lips to his, kissing him back. As the kiss and embrace deepened, Rey could only think, _I'm kissing my best friend... I'm kissing my best friend..._

* * *

... And when Rey and Finn broke the kiss, it seemed, they were being bonded for life on their wedding day, with the whole Praxeum surrounding them and cheering. Rey was donned in a simple white dress and there were flowers in the buns of her hair. Finn looked dashing in his Jedi robes. Beaming at her new husband, Rey knew she was getting married for the last time. When Finn had proposed to her, Rey had been hesitant to wed again, so soon after leaving Poe. And part of her as a widow still mourned for Ben. But maybe happiness had been staring her in the face all along, in the form of her best friend. And so, molding her mouth to his in a chaste kiss, Rey's eyes fluttered closed dreamily as she thought to herself, _I'm kissing my husband... I'm kissing my husband..._


	7. Come Home

**Chapter 7: Come Home**

Chiara bucked her hips wildly as Temiri pounded her into the silky mattress. Her moans were lowing, before cresting into high-pitched squeals and squeaks. Bracing one hand against the headboard above them, Temiri weakly slammed one more time before spilling all he had into her.

Rolling off the Dark Lady of the Sith, Chiara sat up, face and body flushing before sliding a palm along the wet folds of her cunt, cleansing herself. Eyeing her Jedi lover, Chiara grinned like a feral cat and pounced, moving to straddle Temiri. Sitting astride his thigh, hands bracing his chest, she began to earnestly ride him. Bounce up and down on him as she mashed her lips against his in a heated kiss.

A frantic knocking at the door to her chambers made Chiara break the kiss abruptly, silky black hair whipping around her face as she glanced to the door, terrified. She could feel Temiri stirring beneath her, and she absently nudged him back down, imploring him to be quiet.

"Oh, gods! What will my disciples think when they find a Jedi like this with me?"

"Lucky Jedi?" Temiri quipped a guess, the grin on his face dopey, and to Chiara's mind, far too smug. Swatting him, Chiara rose languidly off her paramour, tossing a silken bathrobe over herself.

"Master!"

"Yes, I'm coming!" Chiara called to the voice on the other side. Opening the hydraulic door just a crack, Chiara fixed the intruder with a collected, passive stare. Practiced - a politician's facade.

"What is it, Darth Pamoto?"

Pamato, an imposing Yarkoro, appeared uncharacteristically on edge. "My most adored lady, Skywalker and her Jedi are on the attack, and their practically at our gates!"

Chiara's teeth clenched. In the highs of making love, she had been blind to her mother's impending approach in the Force. Chancing a glance back to Temiri, her heart howling at his expression of hope, she faced Darth Pamoto and demanded, "Full authority to shoot down any and all cruisers! Secure the permiter and send TIEs to defend atmo! Go, go!"

The Yarkoro scurried away and Chiara slammed her door shut. Leaning against it, she noted how the man she had loved since she was a little girl was studying her softly.

"Your mother misses you..."

"Do not speak of her to me!" Chiara's eyes may have flashed dangerously, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her. Drifting closer to him, she murmured, "Don't leave me?"

Temiri grinned. "Never. You're coming with me."

Outside, alarms began to blare. Yanking Temiri to her and kissing him roughly, Chiara growled, "We'll see..."

* * *

As the Jedi cruiser swooped out of atmo and low over Korriban, Rey and Finn observed the black obsidian palace far below.

"On final approach, Master!" Padawan Ral Mavr, their skilled Kel Dor pilot, called from the cockpit.

Turning back to the horizon, Rey felt her new husband squeeze her hand. "Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," she rumbled. "I've never been afraid since you came into my life." Peering up into Finn's face, she crooned. "I truly... deeply love you. Before we potentially die, I want you to know. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long..."

Leaning in, the Jedi Grandmaster and Master of the Order embraced and kissed.

Their lips had only touched for a few moments when blaster fire jolted the couple apart. Ral Mavr growled as the cruiser was forced down towards the planet's surface. Holding her Finny's hand, Rey whipped out her lightsaber and ignited it.

"Brace for impact!"

The Jedi cruiser crash landed onto Korriban and Rey bellowed, "CHARGE!"

With war cries, the Jedi disembarked under heavy blaster fire, colliding with a wave of Sith on the fire-scorched fields. Ducking and weaving, Rey bisected a Tusken Raider Sith. Through the Force, her essence was warmed by her spouse at her back, right at her side.

Just then, an equally thrilling presence filled her. Two actually. Glancing up to the highest spires of the castle, she spotted Darth Zuleika tugging Temiri behind her.

Chiara...

"FINN! LET'S GO!" Rey bellowed over the din. Crouching, Rey propelled herself in a slightly-less-than graceful Force leap, landing on the highest balcony right behind her child and her husband's apprentice.

Chiara whirled around, teeth bared, and threw Temiri behind her like a lioness protecting her territory.

Silence, broken only by the sound of Finn landing lightly behind his wife.

"MASTER!" Temiri called excitedly to the dark-skinned man.

Chiara flinched towards young Blagg a fraction before eyeing coldly the woman who birthed her and gave her life. "Hello, Mother."

"Chiara!" Rey called, striding bravely forward despite the fear emanating from Finn at her back. "Take off the hood. You don't need it." She was eerily reminded of a similar tableau from decades before, except then, she had been an observer, not an active participant.

Under the darkened hood, Rey thought she saw eyes gleam. They were blue, like her father's, despite the dark side's best efforts to taint them with a sickly yellow. "What do you think you'll see when you do?"

Rey came to a halt but two parayards away. "The face of my baby. My daughter."

* * *

 _A fifteen-year-old Chiara stared at her mother, stepfather and uncle from across her bedroom, wild-eyed, her irises panged with deep betrayal. Her blue lightsaber trembled in her grasp,_ _ignited. A glowing data pad lay open on the floor, blaring the headline: DAUGHTER OF JEDI GRANDMASTER THE LOVE CHILD OF KYLO REN; DESCENDED FROM VADER, SIDIOUS._

_"It can't be true!" Chiara was screaming, hot and angry tears pooling and streaming down her cheeks. "My father's name was Ben Solo! He was a good man! A war hero!"_

_Rey gazed at her daughter with deep sympathy. "Ben Solo was Kylo Ren. One and the same person. Your father made some mistakes, but he redeemed himself in the end." She sighed. "We were going to tell you when you turned 18, but the holopress..."_

_Chiara rounded on Poe, her stepfather. "And you knew about this?"_

_Poe raised his hands in supplication. "Yes. But Chiara... your mom and I were always honest with you about who your father was."_

_"I know, I know! : you and Mommy married when she was pregnant with me..." Chiara recited the tale almost by heart._

_"... and we agreed that the darker parts would be left for when you were old enough."_

_Finn now stepped forward. "Chiara, sweetie... we love you. Always. Just please... put down the saber so we can talk_."

_Chiara's eyes darkened, and Rey chilled at the yellow tinge now defiling her baby's blue orbs. "No."_

_Swinging her saber in a wide arc, Finn was made to leap back, his green blade coming alive and just clashing the tip of his goddaughter's blue one. Throwing out a hand, Chiara blasted apart her bedroom window with the Force. Glass shattering everywhere, the young Jedi woman leapt out amidst the jagged shards and fled into the night._

* * *

After a long pause, Chiara threw back the hood, and amidst her beauty - so reflective of Ben, thank the Maker! - Rey was heartened to find tears swimming in those orbs of blue.

"I'm being torn apart. I want to be free of this pain. I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it... Will you help me?"

Smiling encouragingly, without fear despite the truly freaky dejavu, Rey crooned, "Yes. Anything." Behind her, she felt her husband's fear in the Force spike, but she paid it little heed. If Chiara was anything like her father... history would _not_ , in fact, repeat itself.

Behind her little girl, Rey saw Temiri lay an encouraging hand on Chiara's shoulder. The Jedi noted, but didn't comment on, the intimacy of the gesture, nor the weak but warm smile Chiara sent back to him.

Stepping directly in front of her mother, Chiara handed the unignited hilt of her lightsaber out to Rey. Taking it gingerly, Rey waited until...

... Chiara's hand released the weapon to her.

Mother and daughter fell into each other's arms, the latter weeping brokenly.

"There, there..." Rey cooed. "There, there, my angel in the Force... you're home."

Stepping out of the hug, Finn sidled up to Rey. Beaming, Rey captured his lips with hers. At least until she heard Chiara gasp, choke a little.

"Uncle Finn!"

Finn and Rey snapped apart, flushing. "I... I have a lot to tell you," Rey grinned weakly, looking like an embarrassed schoolgirl. "Your stepfather and I... we broke up and..."

But Chiara was grinning at the pair, twinkling eyes specifically for her Uncle Finn. "About time. I totally approve!"

Rey's jaw dropped, face flaming.

Temiri joined the group, lacing his fingers through Chiara's. Now it was the daughter's turn to smile weakly. "I... have news too."

Rey grinned broadly in blessing. "About time. I totally approve," she quipped, smirking.

Finn chuckled. "Perhaps you should get yourself captured more often, my very young apprentice."

Temiri could only laugh, by now blushing as red as everyone else. "Yes, Master."


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

There were few things Finn liked better than starting his day off with his wife.

When she had woken him up that morning by kissing his face and rolling him over so she could move to straddle him, he hadn't complained in the least. Cupping and squeezing the smooth flesh of her buttocks, he groaned as he shifted gears in his thrusts.

"Hmm... that's nice..." Rey purred. Sucking in a deep breath, Finn rolled his hips grinding his length deeper inside Rey, who was rolled onto her side with her leg draped over his to give him better access. She moaned close enough to a growl indicating that he had found her special spot with success.

Kriff, he loved Rey like this. The second trimester was always fun as her hormones were always out of control. They'd always enjoyed a healthy sex life (the two children they had already were testament to that: a boy, Nuka, born four years ago, and their daughter, Eponine, only just two) but the twin girls she was now carrying – to be named Sierra and Sienna - seemed to have doubled the effects. He was glad her temper had calmed down into something more manageable. He'd had to confiscate her saber twice previously.

"Fuck, Finny." Rey moaned as quietly as she could. Even this early and with sound-proofed walls, they didn't want to scare their kids completely.

"Trying to." He murmured with a scoff that turned into a shudder at the smooth slide of being within her. He ran his hand along her body enjoying her pregnant body. Her figure had changed over the years. She was still lean, due to her natural build and her religious practice of training with a saber at least five times a week, but not it was fuller and softer in places. Her torso was no longer completely flat and her breasts were a cup size bigger. It never bothered Rey. It was a sign of her children. Finn adored her regardless but loved the change. It showed her as the mother of his children and reminded him that she'd given him everything he'd ever wanted.

His thrusts became harder and faster causing Rey to keen loudly and clenched around him. He slid his hands up her to gently cup her breasts, conscious they were sensitive. He turned her face to him so he could kiss her through the building feeling. Rey fisted a hand in his hair almost painfully to keep him where he was.

Rey forgot her bid to be quiet when she finally surrendered but Finn was too busy pounding her into the mattress to care. He came not long after her with a curse.

They curled up together as their breathing came back to normal. Finally, Rey sat up, breathless, wiping a hand along her bushy and soaked cunt to cleanse herself. Dipping her head, she kissed Finn's lips quickly before languidly clambering out of the bed they had shared for the last five years.

"I'm going to wake Nuka and Eponine," she whispered to her husband, donning a bathrobe to replace her nightgown now pooled on the floor. Finn had undressed her hurriedly when she had woken him up to have sex, moving to get her on her back fast. "Then, we can go over to Chiara and Temiri's for tea."

Finn propped himself up on his elbows, enjoying the view. "Thank the Maker for the day of rest," he mumbled. Sundays were the only time when all activity on the grounds of the Praxeum slowed considerably. As soon as his wife was out of sight, he threw back the covers to step into the fresher.

By the time he was out and dressed, Rey was buttoning up Nuka and Eponine's little coats. His son was fussy somewhat, probably on account of being woken up so early, but when Rey murmured to him that they were off to see his big sister, he brightened significantly.

Exiting their cottage, the Skywalkers strolled down the grassy hills, rounding the back of the Temple on a path towards the meditation meadows. With Nuka and Eponine flanking them on either side, Rey and Finn remained hand-in-hand, chatting amicably.

"I'll always feel bad that I've never had a last name to give you when we got married," Finn confessed to her.

Rey just smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I think Skywalker's a fine surname for you," she crooned. "Besides, I didn't take Poe's last name when we got married. It's not a big deal to me. This is what matters." And she flashed the simple golden wedding ring on her finger. Finn grinned back, actually stopping his family mid-walk to bend and kiss Rey thoroughly. She smiled into his lips and happily returned it.

"Mommy! Daddy! Yuk!" Eponine whined. Rey and Finn broke the kiss only at that, both pink in the face.

Across the high grasses, Rey spotted her eldest daughter and son-in-law laying out a blanket for a picnic. Squirming out of their parents' grasps, Nuka and Eponine pelted across the meadow towards them, calling, "Chiara! Temiri!"

Following at a leisurely pace behind, Rey embraced her daughter.

"Mother, don't over-exert yourself..."

"Fine, I'm fine," Rey dismissed with a wave of her hand. "This one has always kept a close watch on me," and she gestured to her husband.

Beaming gratefully, Chiara hugged her stepfather. "Thank you, Finn."

"Just doing my job," Finn rumbled.

"Here, Mother, have a seat," Temiri helped Rey down to the blanket.

Rey cast her eyes about her family, a loving and beaming smile on her face, Though it had been a long road to get here, her family was complete (or soon would be, as she felt Finn's hands join hers in caressing the swell of her belly) and she was married to the man she loved. The Jedi were triumphant, back and better than ever with true balance in the Force. The galaxy was at peace.


End file.
